Docility and desert: Government discourses of compassion in Australia's asylum seeker debate

• Published in: Journal of sociology (Melbourne, Vic.) Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 351 - 366
• Main Author: Michele Peterie
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: South Melbourne, VIC SAGE Publications 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Compassion; Debates and debating; Government policy; Human smuggling; Political refugees

In the years since 2001, Australian governments on both sides of politics have at times appealed to compassion to justify their asylum seeker policies. This article takes these discourses of compassion - contradictory and cynical as they sometimes seem - and subjects them to careful and systematic a...